News

The traditional ruler of Jaba, the Kpop Ham of Jaba Chiefdom in Kaduna State, Jonathan Danladi Gyet Maude, has been abducted by gunmen suspected to be kidnappers.

The brother of the kidnapped monarch, Anthony Maude, has confirmed the development. He said the victim was kidnapped on his farm located at Gitata community in Nasarawa State.

Kpop Ham Jonathan Danladi Gyet Maude is among the first-class monarchs in Kaduna State.

The Kano State House of Assembly has recommended the dismissal, arrest and prosecution of the suspended chairman of the state’s public complaints and anti-corruption commission, Muhuyi Magaji. In addition, the Assembly has set up a 6-member committee to investigate his conduct as the anti-corruption czar from 2015 to 2021.

Details will follow.

The Publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoleye Sowore, has been arrested by officers of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) in Abuja.

The incident happened at the Federal High Court, Abuja, the venue of the trial of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

Sowore confirmed the incident on his Twitter handle that he was “Just arrested by @PoliceNG at the Federal High Court in Abuja!”

By Muhammad Sabiu

A 41-year-old man, identified as Hammawa Usman, in Ganye Local Government Area of Adamawa State has been apprehended by the police for beating Rabiyatu Usman, his wife, to death in a fight involving N1,000.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) has reported that this was coming almost one week after a similar incident happened in the same state.

“The suspect angrily reacted by hitting her head against the wall… she fell unconscious and was rushed to the hospital where she was later confirmed dead,” Sulaiman Nguroje, Police spokesman, confirmed the incident in a statement made available to newsmen on Thursday in Yola.

Mr Nguroje added, “The suspect was apprehended by the police following report received from a relative of the deceased and a good Samaritan.”

As the investigation into the incident is ongoing, the Adamawa State Commissioner of Police, Aliyu Alhaji, has commended the police and people of the community for facilitating the arrest of the culprit. He added that he would soon be prosecuted.

The Esu Chikun, Chikun Chiefdom area of Kaduna State, His Royal Highness, Dr. Danjuma Barde, passed on this morning. The late monarch died at an Army 44 Reference Hospital in Kaduna after a short admission, according to palace sources.

In a condolence message, Governor Nasiru El-Rufai described late Dr. Barde as “a peacemaker who did not flinch from the challenges of modernity but who fully embraced the possibilities of diversity”.

Tributes and condolence messages have been pouring in nationwide over the death of the Chikun Chiefdom paramount ruler.

Reports have indicated that security operatives have successfully apprehended the self-styled Yoruba nation activist, Sunday Adeyemo (aka Sunday Igboho) and his wife.

SaharaReporters, an online newspaper, has reported that Igboho was nabbed Monday night after fleeing Nigeria to circumvent arrest by the secret police in Nigeria.

A source in the know of the matter told SaharaReporters that, “Sunday Igboho has been arrested in Cotonou. He was arrested about an hour ago.

“He was supposed to travel to Germany through Cotonou this night. He wanted to leave Africa through Cotonou. He was arrested by security operatives in Cotonou.

“They are planning to bring him back to Nigeria.”

Recently, Nigeria’s secret police had declared Sunday Igboho wanted and was advised to turn himself in after a raid on his home in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The self-styled activist is known for his secessionist agenda and his agitation for the creation of a Yoruba nation, a move the federal government warned against.

This is coming weeks after another separatist, Nnamdi Kanu, was arrested and repatriated to Nigeria after he jumped bail in 2017 on treason charges.

By Muhammadu Sabiu

Slaughtering of animals on the tenth day of Zul-hijja is one of the core forms of worship for that day. Those animals include rams, sheep, goats, cows, camels. However, the ram is always preferable to the other animals, especially with respect to the tradition of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

In Islam, this tradition of slaughtering originated since Prophet Abraham (AS), when Allahu (SWT) commanded him to slaughter his son as a form of sacrifice. However, on laying him to the ground to slaughter him, the divine command changed. Then the Almighty sent him a ram to slaughter instead of his beloved son.

With the coming of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the final Messenger sent by Allah to preach to humankind, the tradition of slaughtering got attached a full-fledged form of worship.

As part of “ibadat”, it’s highly recommended for every sane, financially capable Muslim to get any of the animals mentioned above—preferably a ram—to slaughter on the tenth day of Zul-hijja.

Looking at how the nation has plunged into an economic quagmire that bites harder, ram buyers are groaning over the high prices of ram in Bauchi. We, therefore, tried to survey the cost of rams and a comparison as to how they were sold in 2020 and how they are sold this year.

A buyer of ram, who bought a ram from Durun market in Bauchi State alongside his other two friends and who pleaded anonymity said, “Rams that ranged from ₦30,000 to ₦31,000 now cost from ₦48,000 to ₦50,000 thereby amounting to an increment to the tune of ₦20,000 each. Each of us bought rams, whose prices were ₦48,000, ₦49,000 and ₦50,000.”

Also, a seller of rams, who also wanted his name not to be mentioned, said, “First of all, I am engaged in the business of selling animals, and Eid el-Kabir is just around the corner. But there is one problem.”

When asked what the problem was, he added, “The animals have become untouchable because their prices are too high. Money is not circulating among people. Only those that are financially strong come to buy. Common people no longer come; they can only buy a goat worth like ₦12,000 or ₦13,000 and get back home. Last year, people had money, unlike this year.”

He confirmed that there had been an increase of about ₦20,000 when compared to last year. “And again, a ram that was worth ₦30,000 last year would now cost up to ₦50,000,” he added.

Tuesday, July 20, was declared Eid Day and, thus, a public holiday in Nigeria.

By Muhammad Sabiu

President Muhammadu Buhari has on Monday patted his Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, on the back over what he described as a “task of transforming and modernising every aspect of Nigeria’s national transport infrastructure.”

This is coming four days after the president visited Kano and performed the ground-breaking ceremony of the segment of the Kano-Kaduna railway modernisation project.

Commending the minister via his verified Facebook handle, the president said, “I commend the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, the Ministry, and all the project implementation partners contributing to this national effort of railway infrastructure development.”

Recall that on June 10, the president was also in Lagos to commission the Lagos-Ibadan Standard Guage Rail Line. He also inaugurated its “full commercial operations.”

By Muhammadu Sabiu

An unspecified number of mobile police officers have on Sunday been gruesomely killed by suspected bandits at Ƙurar Mota frontline base in Zamfara State.

Confirming the death of the officers via his Facebook account, Governor Matawalle’s Senior Special Assistant, SSA (New Media), Ibrahim Bello Zauma, said the governor had to cancel a meeting he scheduled to have with some political figures in the state.

His statement reads, “Governor Bello Matawalle has just cancelled his scheduled political meeting in commiseration of the death of our gallant MOPOL officers at Kurar Mota frontline base. He visits the injured at the Yariman Bakura Hospital. The Governor is shocked over the bandits’ incursion, which claimed the lives of the police officers. May the souls of those who fell rest in peace.”

However, details of how the police officers got killed have not emerged.

In recent years, Zamfara State, alongside other northwestern states, has been hit hard and ravaged by the gruesome activities of bandits and kidnappers, as so far, a large number of people have been violently killed and kidnapped.

By Uzair Adam Imam

The embattled Islamic cleric, Sheikh Abduljabbar Nasiru Kabara, remains in police custody since his arrest yesterday (Friday) evening.

Kabara is a famous Kano-based controversial cleric whose commentaries and preaching the Coalition of Kano Ulama describe as blasphemous. On July 10, 2021, Kano State Government organised a debate between Kabara and some of the state’s scholars to defend himself.

However, according to the statement made by the judge of the debate, Professor Sani Shehu, Kabara failed to clear his name or defend his utterances.

The Sheikh was charged for blasphemy, incitement and insulting Prophet Muhammad (SAW), his companions, among others. A statement issued by the Commissioner of Information, Malam Muhammad Garba, on Friday states that Abduljabbar will remain in police custody until Monday, when he would be sent to prison.

The statement, in parts, reads: “The development followed the receipt of the First Information Report from the police by the Office of the Attorney General and Commissioner for justice which prepared charges against the cleric.

“Abduljabbar was subsequently arraigned on Friday, July 16, before an Upper Sharia Court Judge, Kofar Kudu, Alkali Ibrahim Sarki Yola, where the charges that included blasphemy, incitement, and sundry offences were mentioned.”